Every Rose Has It's Thorn

22.

Chapter Twenty-Two:

"I wanna be a cheerleader when I go to high school." Ava mused, never looking up from her Gameboy.

She was playing 'Kim Possible' and if she looked up for even a split second, she'd lose.

"I'm sure you'd make a great cheerleader, honey." Haley pushed some stray hair away from her face.

She, Brooke, Bevin, Ava, and Peyton were all piled into Rachel's car, on their way to the State Championship game.

As much as Ava didn't like Rachel because of what she did, she didn't really have much of a choice but to ride with her.

Karen had picked up Deb, and right now, because of the woman's drug addiction, her mother really didn't want her around her.

Dan had been acting really strange lately and he said he couldn't take her because he had things to take care of before heading to the game.

And honestly, Ava thought it was a cop-out from having to actually tell her where babies come from.

She was going to find out sooner or later.

"I can't believe Whitey wouldn't let us ride the bus." Brooke grumble from the passenger seat. "And thanks to Haley, we're gonna miss the game, because you had to stop and pee every other mile. This sucks."

"Brooke, I'm pregnant and I'm not feeling very well."

"I don't mean it sucks because we're gonna be late, honey. I mean, it sucks because Peyton's here."

"You guys are still fighting?" Ava asked, still focused on her screen.

"You guys seriously need to work things out." Rachel rolled her eyes. "I mean, when I was in fat-girl therapy....." She stopped before deciding not to divulge that piece of information. "Maybe role-playing......it's when everyone speaks as someone else. It might help."

"Okay, I'll go first." Haley cleared her throat. "My name's Rachel, and I'm an idiot who's failing calculus, and I really like to hit on married guys."

"See? Fun." Rachel spoke from behind the wheel. "Kind of like when I was with Nathan. Man, that was good."

"I want a turn!" Ava paused her game.

"Go for it." Rachel indulged her.

"Hi, I'm Haley. I'm pregnant." Ava smirked at the older girl sitting next to her. "And I won't tell Ava where babies come from. When she asks, I play dumb and act like my brain fell out of my head."

"I'm Ava, and if I'm not careful, Haley's gonna hurt me, because I'm a smart aleck and I don't know when to shut my mouth." Haley humorlessly smiled back at her before tapping her mouth with the back of her hand a few times, signaling for her to quit it.

Ava hated it when she did that.

It didn't hurt exactly, it was just annoying.

But she didn't like it and maybe that was the point, but Haley wasn't playing fair.

"Okay." Brooke grew serious. "Peyton here. I like to steal boys, but I'm afraid to tell them how I really feel."

"Speaking of stealing." Peyton cut in. "Hi, I'm Brooke, and I also stole my friend Peyton's artwork so I could put it on my clothing line, and I never even said thank you."

"Okay, Peyton here again! Have I mentioned that if you love me, you're probably gonna die soon? See mothers one and two."

The entire car's atmosphere changed after that.